Nod to impose fee on expat students

Manama : The educational costs of expatriates will soon go up as the parliamentary committee has approved imposition of a hefty annual fee of BD400 on non-Bahraini students studying in public schools.
The decision comes after the educational authorities gave their nod to go-ahead with the fee despite human rights concerns. MPs will vote this Tuesday on the report of the council’s Services Committee, which amended and passed a proposal to impose the fees on foreign students in public schools.
The services committee adjusted the request submitted by MP Jalal Kadhim in 2015 to amend the Article 7 in the existing Law 27 of the year 2005 with respect to educational services in the Kingdom.
The current law stipulates that fundamental (primary and intermediate) and secondary education should free for all in public schools in the Kingdom of Bahrain.
The paragraph which stipulates exempting students from countries offering free education to Bahrainis was amended by the committee to only include locals and GCC nationals in the beneficiaries’ list of free education services in the Kingdom.  
The committee’s report comes after its members met and consulted several governmental authorities, including Education Ministry and the National Institution for Human Rights (NIHR).
Education Ministry insisted that the fees should be regulated within the frame of the law and in accordance with Article B/107 of the Kingdom’s Constitution, which reads, “The provisions of governing the collection of taxes, duties and other public monies, and the procedures for their disbursement, shall be prescribed by the law.”
The ministry supported the proposal saying, “The increase of the numbers of expats in the country creates a burden on educational services, especially during the stumbling economic situations that are presently witnessed. Imposing fees on foreign pupils studying in public schools is a strategy followed by many countries in the world, including GCC states.”  
On its part, NIHR called for establishing a special committee in the ministry to look into special cases and exempt those who can’t afford to pay the fees.